Cardinal men a big hit in Pac-12 basketball road opener

Marcus Allen added 15 points for the Cardinal (2-1 Pac-12, 9-5 overall), which won its fourth in five games. Dorian Pickens had 14 points, the fifth time in seven games he's reached double figures.

Rosco Allen

Stanford opened the conference season with a split at home, and had to rally from double-digit deficits in both games. Each time the Cardinal fell behind early before putting it together in the second half.

The only deficit Stanford faced against the Beavers was by three points in the opening minutes of the contest.

The Cardinal hopes to continue the trend Sunday when it travels to Eugene for a conference game against Oregon at 7 p.m. The Ducks beat California on Wednesday.

Stanford maintained a 7-12 advantage throughout the second half, winning the rebounding battle by a 46-29 margin, including 20-9 on the offensive boards.

The Cardinal, playing on the road for the first time in 40 days, beat Oregon State for the sixth time in its past seven meetings. It's the first time in six meetings that a Stanford player has not recorded a double-double.

Rosco Allen, who matched Michael Humphrey for the team with eight rebounds, came the closest. Allen recorded at least 20 points for the second time this season and has reached double figures in scoring in eight of the past nine games.

Humphrey has at least eight rebounds in each of the past five games he's played.

The Beavers took an early lead but a sustained, 23-6, run over an 11-minute span put the Cardinal ahead, 26-12, with 5:39 remaining to play in the first half.

Marcus Allen hit a layup and 3-pointer to spark the rally and freshman Josh Sharma scored six straight points to finish the run.